


Go Go Torchwood Rangers!

by MiladyDragon



Category: Doctor Who (2005), Mighty Morphin Power Rangers The Movie, Torchwood
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Community: Reel Torchwood, Crack, F/M, M/M, Parody
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-03
Updated: 2012-10-03
Packaged: 2017-11-15 13:27:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 17,166
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/527814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiladyDragon/pseuds/MiladyDragon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Power Rangers lose their powers, but still have to protect Cardiff from the evilness of the Master, who is determined to take over the world</p>
            </blockquote>





	Go Go Torchwood Rangers!

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for Reel Torchwood Round Five, prompt: Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: the Movie. No Adipose, Weevils, scenic New Zealand tourist sites, or snowglobes were harmed in the writing of this story; the Toclafane were scratched up a bit, though.

 

Jack Harkness loved being a Power Ranger.

It wasn’t the adventure – although that was absolutely amazing.  It wasn’t the whole ‘saving the world’ thing either – but there really wasn’t anything more rewarding than fighting off the alien hordes without any sort of acknowledgement.   And then there was the fantastic team he had – because, if they hadn’t been thrown together as Rangers, Jack doubted he’d even have spoken with them, and when it came to a certain Ianto Jones, that would have been a crime.

Nope, the best thing about being a Power Ranger was the idea that he and his friends could wear clothing colour-coordinated to their Ranger personas and _no_ _one_ _caught_ _on_.

It was blatantly obvious that Jack and his best friends were the Power Rangers.  There were six of them, and there were six Power Rangers.  They each wore the same colours that they did when they morphed.  They had communicators that didn’t look a thing like the wrist watches that most people mistook them for.  They had a tendency to disappear at the drop of a hat…or, at least, at the appearance of one of the garishly costumed monsters they fought off every week. 

And only Ianto wore glasses, so they couldn’t rely on the ‘Clark Kent Effect’, which their mentor, the Doctor, had once claimed.  Jack was pretty certain the Time Lord had just been blowing it out of his arse with _that_ explanation.  Besides, they wore helmets for crying out loud; no one could tell if they were wearing glasses or not underneath.

Plus, honestly, the way Suzie bitched about wearing pink really should have been a dead giveaway.

Jack loved it.  He loved the very notion that his friends were the Power Rangers and no one seemed to realize it.  They could bring as much attention to themselves, and the entire population of Wales just wouldn’t get it. 

Take that morning for example.

Jack and his five best friends were kitted up in complete skydiving gear, and were riding in the back of Diane Holmes’ plane as the pilot – a friend of Owen’s, no less, and she didn’t know they were Rangers, either – flew them over one of the rare, clear areas of Bute Park, where someone had laid out a rather large target on the ground.

There was a crowd there, too.  Waiting for Jack and his friends to land on that particular target, all in the name of fundraising for the Greater Cardiff Observatory, which was in danger of being shut down.

Jack had to admit…this was another great thing about being a Power Ranger.  Even though no one knew about it, the vast majority of the people they were acquainted with fully expected Jack and his ‘team’ to do such death-defying stunts in order to help out a great cause.

Most kids would be getting ready for applying to various universities by now, instead of being adrenaline junkies after their next fix.

“Two minutes before we’re in position,” Diane called back from the cockpit. 

Jack grinned.  He just couldn’t help it. 

He took in his best friends.  Each one seemed to be getting more and more excited about flinging themselves out into midair; Suzie and Toshiko were high-fiving each other, while Owen was checking the parachute on Rhys’ back.  Ianto was buckling on his helmet, and Jack had to admit his boyfriend looked fantastic in his red jumpsuit.

Well, Ianto honestly looked fantastic in anything.  Jack was just glad that Ianto had become the Red Ranger, since red was definitely his colour.

Ianto caught him staring, and raised an eyebrow, which Jack interpreted as Ianto-speak for, _I know you think I’m gorgeous; can we please jump out of the plane now?_

They weren’t alone on the plane, but then Jack had to blame Rhys for that, since it was his girlfriend and her tagalong that were with them.

Gwen Cooper was a constant source of entertainment, in that she was always trying to figure out just who the Power Rangers were, and she’d roped her childhood friend, Andy Davidson, into her quest to discover their true identities.  It was horribly ironic that she was actually dating the Black Ranger, and didn’t have a clue that the reason Rhys would break dates with her was because he had a duty to beat the crap out of all sorts of monsters that their nemesis, that particularly evil witch, Rose Tyler, would create in order to destroy the world.

Donna, the Doctor’s assistant, claimed that Rose and the Doctor had dated for a while.  If that were true, then Jack could certainly understand why Rose was insane and wanting to blow shit up.

“We good to go?” he called out over the sound of the plane’s engine and the wind whistling through the open door at the rear of the craft.

He got various affirmatives from his friends, but Gwen took one look outside the open door and shouted, “Where did the ground go?”

“Thirty seconds,” Diane informed them, giving them a thumbs’ up over the back of her head.

“Lead on, Gwen,” Suzie teased, taking her place near the front of the door.

“You’re the one who wanted to do this,” Rhys reminded her.                  

“Of course I do!” Gwen exclaimed.  “It’s just that…I didn’t think we’d be so far up!”

“Step aside and let the professionals handle this,” Owen replied, grabbing onto a convenient handhold next to Suzie.

“Since when are you lot professional anything?” Andy snarked.  He didn’t look at all happy at being there, and Jack wondered exactly how Gwen had convinced him to make the jump.

“Five seconds!” Ianto called out, his stopwatch at the ready.

Of course, when Jack saw it, he almost forgot about the jump…

Suzie was grinning manically.  “I’m outta here!” With those parting words, she launched herself out of the plane.

Owen was next, shouting something unintelligible, followed by Toshiko and Rhys.  Jack and Ianto met at the open door, and Ianto gave Jack a look that that had him grabbing his boyfriend around the waist and pulling them both out into open air.

Jack whooped, letting go of Ianto almost reluctantly but loving the feel of freefall.  He flung his arms out, laughing, and he could just make out Ianto’s own laughter not far to his right.  He didn’t waste a thought on Gwen and Andy, who would jump if they wanted to; this was all about the sensation of almost flying, and he let gravity take its course.

The jump didn’t last long enough for the adrenaline junkie that lived in Jack’s soul.  Before he knew it, he was pulling the ripcord and his fall to Earth was arrested, the trees around Bute Park getting closer and closer.

He could make out the announcer over the speakers announce each landing; they all touched down in the same order they’d left the plane, and Jack couldn’t help but laugh when his own feet touched dead center of the target.  He did stumble forward as the wind caught his chute, but he managed to pull it down and toward him, gathering it up. 

_“Six for six!”_ the man over the speakers exclaimed.  _“The team from the Torchwood Academy makes it six for six!  With the money raised today, the Greater Cardiff Observatory gets a new lease on life, just in time for the arrival of Comet Myfanwy!”_

Jack met his teammates in a round of back-slapping and laughing, managing to get a short snog and a grope from Ianto.  They’d done it, but then Jack hadn’t expected anything different.

After all, they were the Power Rangers.

Even if no one else realized it.

 

**********

 

After ascertaining that Gwen and Andy had, in fact, jumped out of the plane and that they’d completely missed the target area, ending up somewhere in the trees about half a mile away, the team decided to head out to their favorite hangout, _Sarah Jane’s,_ the local internet café/juice bar/gymnasium/martial arts dojo/hot dog stand for lunch.  Of course, since they did that, they completely missed going past the construction site where they were building the new Skypoint luxury flats…

Which meant they missed the workers there finding the really big iron plate set into the ground just where they were about to sink a support beam for the multi-level building.

 

**********

_Sarah Jane’s_ was the place to be if you were a teenager in Cardiff.  The owner, Sarah Jane Smith, had completely kitted out the large building to cover everything that a growing, hyper-active teen could want to do, and it was there that Jack and his team found themselves after changing out of their skydiving gear and back into their colour-coordinated outfits that they were so well known for and yet no one actually understood meant that they were, in fact, Power Rangers.  They took up one of the larger tables on the patio, eating their hot dogs and guzzling fruit juice like it was the finest ambrosia.  Well, everyone except for Jack, who was too busy showing Luke, Sarah Jane’s young son, some martial arts moves that had had absolutely nothing to do with what he’d learned since he’d become the leader of the Power Rangers.

“Hey!” the proprietor herself called out as she carried another tray over to their table, more juice and hot dogs piled up on it, as well as the chips that Owen had ordered.  “No karate on the patio!”

“Well,” Jack said, giving her his best smile, “it’s technically Tae-Kwon-Do…”

“And it’s still encouraging my son to flail about close enough to the main window to break it out with a badly-placed kick,” the older woman chided. 

Jack recalled the one time he’s mentioned her to the Doctor; the Time Lord had gotten a dreamy look on his face, and Jack had to really wonder just how many women he’d dated in the Cardiff area.  Well, at least Sarah Jane hadn’t gone nuts and started growing weird monsters in order to fulfill some sort of need for mass destruction…

“So,” she said, putting the tray down and moving out of the way of the rampant, hungry teenaged hordes, “do you all have anything fun planned for the weekend?”

Jack took his seat and snagged one of Owen’s chips.  “I thought I’d had plans, but the person I’d had plans with preferred to go comet-watching instead…”  He aimed his most deadliest pout at Ianto, who seemed to weather it fairly well.

“I’m going to be at the Observatory on Sunday,” Ianto answered, “and Jack, I told you, you’re more than welcome to come with me.”

“Toshiko and I are going to check out the newest dance club,” Suzie replied, taking a sip of her pink-coloured juice, making a face at it then setting it back down and mumbling something about ‘bloody pink’. 

“We’ve heard about it, but don’t know much about it,” Toshiko agreed.  “Owen, Rhys…you’re welcome to join us.”

“And yes, you can bring Gwen, Rhys,” Suzie teased. 

Rhys rolled his eyes.  Jack knew he was well aware how they all felt about Gwen, but Rhys really liked her, so they did try to include her.  Besides, the pool on when she’d finally catch on to her boyfriend being the Black Ranger was now up to around five hundred pounds.

“Don’t let them give you grief, Rhys,” Sarah Jane said, patting him on her shoulder.  She tucked the tray under her arm and headed off to her other customers, dragging Luke along with her in order to avoid any possible insurance claims.

It was just in time to miss each of the Rangers’ ‘watches’ going off, the chiming noise noticeable to anyone who would have been walking by. Luckily the six friends were alone, or it might have given the game away to anyone who could do basic maths and think outside the box.

Jack looked around furtively and then answered the call.  “What’s up, Donna?”

_“If you yobbos are finished throwing yourselves out of planes,”_ the outspoken woman said over the comm. unit, the tinny speaker not disguising any of her sarcasm, _“then can you get back to the Hub?  Space Man wants to talk to you all.”_

This was why Donna was awesome…she’d never once dated the Doctor, and yet was just naturally crazy…in a good way, that was.

Jack stood up, cramming the rest of his last hot dog into his mouth.  “Let’s go, team,” he said…or tried to say around one of Oscar Mayer’s best.

It was a credit to his friends that they did not react to the rampant grossness, although Ianto barely restrained an eye roll.   Jack wondered if it hurt when his boyfriend did that.

They ducked around the nearest convenient corner, taking their ‘usual positions’ with Jack in the front of the formation, and each snapped their hands to the concealed morphers at their waists in an eerily synchronous movement that spoke of long practice in front of several mirrors.   They teleported to the Hub in a trail of rainbows and sparkles.

Yes, Suzie complained about the teleport effect as well.  Toshiko had tried to fix it, but Jack suspected that the Doctor kept changing it back out for some weird notion only the Time Lord was aware of.  Ianto said it was in an effort to embarrass them, and Jack had to admit he might have been correct.  After all, none of them felt the need to restrain themselves in that department, and the Doctor was such a fantastic target.

Jack adored the Hub.  It was shabby and high-tech and somewhere under Cardiff where no one would ever think to look.  Of course, who would really imagine searching for a secret underground science fiction superbase under a water fountain on the Plass, of all places?

The Doctor was racing around like he usually did as they materialized in the main section of the Hub.  The Time Lord was a skinny, human-looking male, whose clothes sense made Ianto flinch.  Donna stood off by the side, just watching, her arms crossed under her breasts and an amused smile on her face. 

“What’s going on?” Jack asked, as he and the other Rangers joined her.

“I’ll let him explain,” the red-head answered, “because I can’t do it justice.”

“Our thermionic sensors have been hit by a cataclysmic blast of evil!” the Doctor exclaimed.  He sounded almost happy.  “Rangers, we have to act quickly; the entire planet is in danger!”

“So what else is new?”  Ianto murmured.

He had a point.  The world had been in danger on a weekly basis for about four years now.

“Danger from what?” Toshiko asked, actually sounding curious.

The Doctor spun, leaning against the main control console that ran things in the Hub.  “Far in the future, there was this really lovely man named Professor Yana.  He was so lovely that everyone adored him.  But then, one day, he was revealed to be one of my own people, only criminally insane, and a fantastic actor to boot.”

Jack wondered just what it was about Time Lords that everything they touched went bananas…and found himself taking a step back from the Doctor out of sheer self-preservation, wondering if the Doctor had dated this Professor dude as well.  That might explain a few things.

“Anyway,” the Doctor went on, “he called himself the Master and decided to remake the human race into something else entirely.  He was finally stopped by a Resistance led by a beautiful woman named Martha Jones, and was imprisoned within a hyperlock chamber and shot into the time vortex, never to be seen again.”

“Go on, Spaceman,” Donna goaded.  “Give them the happily ever after.”

The Doctor shot her a glare.  “The hyperlock chamber managed to exit the vortex and bury itself under Cardiff, where it’s been dug up by some rich ape who wants to put up a building of flats.” 

“And I suppose it’s up to us to go and bury it again,” Owen snarked.  “Why am I not surprised?”

“Hey,” Jack said, “at least it’s different from the monster of the week we usually get.”  Honestly, he was excited to get back into action. 

He couldn’t wait. 

Oh yeah, he loved being a Power Ranger.

 

**********

 

Rose Tyler was quite insane.

She knew it, and reveled in it.  Being classified as nuttier than a fruitcake meant she could get away with all sorts of stuff and it would all be excused as her acting all crazy.

Being mad was quite liberating.

She thoroughly blamed the Doctor, but really…he’d done her a favour.  Now she could stomp on the pitiful humans in whatever way she chose, and didn’t have to explain herself, since she was insane.  Everyone blew it off as being yet one more symptom in her ongoing psychoses folder. 

Rose considered Earth hers, so when she got pinged by an evil pulse, she went immediately to warn whoever it was off her turf.  And, if she had to, she’d give them a hotfoot that would burn their arses.

She took her favorite minions with her.  Mickey Smith had been her boyfriend before the Doctor had come along, and he still hung out with her even though, in technical terms, she was bat-shit crazy.  She rewarded his loyalty by letting him design her monsters, and he seemed quite fine with that.

Her second favorite was Lucy Cole, an old school chum who had managed to achieve insanity without ever having met the Doctor.  It had been quite a feat, and Rose thought Lucy was quite awesome for managing it.  Yes, her dress sense wasn’t all that great – she seemed to be addicted to red – but Lucy more than made up for that in sheer awesome evilness. 

Rose’s other favorite was Yvonne Hartman.  Yvonne was a wee bit bossy, but she was like a motivational speaker from Hell and Rose could really appreciate that.  Yvonne could whip every monster she met into a frenzy of self-appreciation and turn them into bouncy go-getters.  It was quite scary, and anyone who scared Rose was pretty okay in her book. 

The evil ping she’d received turned out to have come from a construction site in Cardiff.  Of course it was Cardiff, because that meant the Power Rangers would get involved.  Rose really hated the Rangers, since they were keeping her from what she thought of as her destiny of controlling the Earth.   There were times when she thought about conquering the rest of the planet first and saving Cardiff for last, but then her crazy impulses would just take over and she’d dismiss the idea. 

The four of them teleported to the site, and Rose grimaced when she saw the large, round metal plate in the ground.  Someone had thoughtfully cordoned off the area with the bog standard yellow crime scene tape, which meant there wasn’t anyone around to disturb them.  It never ceased to amaze her that the local coppers thought that, if you put up enough tape, no one would bother their scenes of crime.  It certainly helped her out.

“Another weekend,” she sighed, “and I’m traipsing through a construction site with the Three Stooges.   Mum did warn me there would be days like this.”

“What the hell is this?” Mickey asked, kicking the plate with his foot.  Luckily he was wearing sturdy shoes or else he’d have broken his toes.

Rose really wanted to sigh dramatically, but managed to refrain.  She could hear Jackie in her head, going on and on about hanging out with the wrong crowd.  “See this symbol?” she pointed at the multi-layered twist that looked like nothing more than a fancy numeral ‘8’.  “That’s a Time Lord symbol.”

“Ooo,” Lucy cooed.  “Anything Time Lord is a good thing.”

Rose begged to differ, but then they hadn’t dated the Doctor and she could excuse them their idiocy….some of the time, at least.  Still, she couldn’t resist pointing her index finger at it and releasing a bit of the Vortex energy she’d absorbed from her time with the Doctor, the golden energy shattering the metal plate and sending shrapnel all over the area…not that Rose cared, since her power shielded her, but it was fun watching her flunkies run for cover.

What she hadn’t expected was the sandy-haired man practically catapulting himself out of the box that had been covered by the plate.

“He’s kinda cute,” Lucy murmured, checking the guy out.

“He’s a bit of all right,” Yvonne agreed. 

Rose rolled her eyes.  The girls could be so easily distracted, honestly…

The man stood on the lip of the hole, rolling his shoulders and working out the kinks.  “Thank you,” he said, giving her a winning smile.  “I haven’t been out of that thing in millennia.  It was beginning to get a bit ripe.”  He bowed, although there was a touch of sarcasm in the gesture. “So, who do I owe the honour of getting me out of that prison?”

Rose hadn’t expected a person to be locked up underneath that plate, so she thought she owed it to herself to be a bit slow on the uptake.  “I’m Rose Tyler,” she finally introduced herself.  “I’m here to warn you that Earth is mine, and I don’t like surprises on my home turf.”

“Yes, well,” the man answered, “I didn’t expect to be here, either.  Earth, you say?”  At Rose’s nod, the man grimaced.  “I don’t suppose the Doctor is still around, is he?”

“Are you kidding?” Mickey snorted.  “She dated the sod.  It’s why she’s nuts.”

The strange laughed.  “Then we have something in common!  I dated him too, until he found someone he liked better.”  His tone had turned distinctly bitter.  “That man’s the biggest slut I’ve ever met, I swear.”  He sidled a bit closer.   “You don’t mind if I destroy him, do you?”

Rose smiled her best, unhinged smile.  “Not at all.  You’d be doing me a favour.  Him and his Power Rangers have been a thorn in my side for years!”

She thought she heard Mickey make a comment about puns, but ignored him. 

“Then I should go and take care of that,” the man returned the smile with one equally unhinged.  “Oh, I’m the Master, by the way.”   He reached out and took Rose’s hand, kissing the back of it.

Rose felt a definite simper coming on, but thought a noise like that was a bit unbecoming an evil witch such as herself.  “Pleasure,” she said, removing her hand from his grasp as soon as she could.

The Master winked at her, then proceeded to kiss both Lucy’s and Yvonne’s hands; Lucy actually making that very sound that Rose had stifled, while Yvonne complimented his technique.  He didn’t kiss Mickey’s hand, which was a bit of a shame, if she was honest with herself.

Nah….being honest with oneself was too highly overrated. 

“We’ll leave you to it,” Rose said, gathering her minions around her once more, although she had to really ignore Lucy’s pout.  “But don’t forget…Earth is mine.  You can kill the Doctor and destroy the Power Rangers all you want, but that doesn’t mean you get to hang around afterward.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” the Master smirked, waving insouciantly.

 

**********

 

In a shower of rainbows and glitter, the Jack and his friends teleported into the construction site where the hyperlock chamber had been buried.  It had gone on dark, and the skeletons of metal and concrete that marked where the Skypoint building was being built were eerie in the twilight.

If Jack were less of a hero, he would have shuddered.  But, since he was a Ranger he simply looked around the piles of construction materials and broken-up rocks that made up the site, puffing himself up in case any enemies were hanging around.

“Anybody see anything?” he asked.

A round of denials met his ears, but then Ianto spoke up.  “We could try that pile of rubble and dirt over there, since it looks like it doesn’t belong with the rest of the relatively level construction site…”

Yes, there was a reason why Jack was so bloody _fond_ of Ianto…

Together, the Rangers climbed the small rise…and saw the open hyperlock chamber buried in the mound.

“It’s been opened,” Rhys stated the obvious.

A sudden girly squeal from Owen caused them all to look at him.  Apparently he’d been startled by a man in a suit touching his shoulder, because said man stood right behind Owen looking very smug indeed. 

“Hi!” he greeted with a crazed smile that made Jack immediately wonder if he somehow knew the Doctor, because only the Time Lord could put that sort of expression on anyone’s face.  “What are you kids doing hanging around a construction site at this time of day?”

The man sounded friendly enough, but Jack was on his guard.  He wasn’t the only one – except for Owen, who looked as if he hadn’t recovered from his heart attack yet – because the rest of the team had parted like the Red Sea, and were watching the stranger warily.

“We’re looking for someone,” Suzie answered slowly.

The man threw his arms out, as if he wanted to hug them all.  “Well, you’ve found someone!  I think this calls for a party!”

And, out of nowhere, music began to play.  Jack didn’t think much of the guy’s taste, if he honestly thought “Voodoo Child” was a good song to party to.  But then Jack was more into the classics, and songs that he could slow-dance with Ianto to.

“You’re nuts!” Owen exclaimed, no longer sounding like a little girl excited about seeing Justin Bieber for the first time.

The man winked. “How’d you guess?”

Each Ranger dropped into a practiced ready position, various martial arts represented.  “You’re the Master,” Toshiko accused.

“Would you like my autograph?” the Master asked happily.  “I’m sure the Doctor has sung my praises already.”

“We’re gonna take you down,” Owen vowed.

Ianto rolled his eyes, and there were times when Jack wondered if they didn’t just roll right out of their sockets out of the sheer force of his boyfriend’s silent sarcasm.

“Oh goody,” the Master clapped his hands.  “Is this the part where I call upon my dastardly minions in order to destroy you?”

“I don’t see any minions,” Rhys pointed out.

The Master looked coy.  “Well…not yet, anyway.”

With those words, the crazy Time Lord practically ripped his shirt open, revealing nicely toned abs that Jack couldn’t help but notice, earning him an elbow from Ianto and an eye roll from Suzie…which certainly wasn’t on par with anything Ianto could achieve.  The Master began flexing his stomach muscles as if he’d had the sudden urge to do standing abdominal crunches.

“What the hell?” Owen asked.

Jack wanted to ask the same thing, but since Owen had done such a good job of it, he didn’t say anything.  Was the Master going to try to conquer the world with his Abs of Steel?

But no, it couldn’t be that much fun.

As he and his team watched, strange white blobs began to form on the Master’s stomach, and each flew off, hitting the dirt with little splats.  The little blobs grew quickly, forming even bigger blobs with arms and legs and the most insipid smiles on their blobby faces that Jack had ever seen.  And, fighting monsters every week, he’d see quite a few.

“Say hello to my friends!” the Master cackled.  “Have fun now!”

Suddenly, he was gone.

And the Rangers found themselves under attack.

Jack managed to get in a couple of good shots, but his fists just seem to sink into whatever it was that made up the weird creatures they were fighting.  It was really icky.

“This is disgusting!” he hear Owen moaning from somewhere in the construction site. 

The creatures were getting in too many good licks of their own.  Jack watched as Ianto managed to gracefully back flip out of the way of two of them, Suzie following right behind him.  Rhys was tossed toward a stack of steel beams, and Toshiko and Owen ganged up on another that was determined to make them smack each other instead of it.  Jack had his own problems, besides keeping track of his team, and it was with a sense of frustration that he realised they would have to retreat and regroup.

It was Morphin’ Time.

The team gathered, standing in their pre-arranged formation, hands on their waists and ready to go.  Jack was very proud of his team as he heard them call out their prehistoric creature names.

“Mastodon!”  Rhys

“Pterodactyl!”  Ianto

“Triceratops!” Owen

“Sabretooth Tiger!” Toshiko

“Tyrannosaurus!” Suzie, sounding her usual disgruntled self over being a pink dinosaur.  She’d managed to quit bitching about it after Owen had pointed out that at least her T-Rex wasn’t purple.

“Velociraptor!” Finally, it was Jack’s turn.

Morphing felt like dipping one’s body into a particularly fizzy drink and then being struck by lightning, which was as close as Jack could get to describing it.  Ianto and Toshiko had tried to explain the process using several pie charts and simulations, but for Jack it boiled down to two things: 

He was a Power Ranger, and it was awesome.

And at least the inside of his helmet didn’t smell like onions, as Owen’s did.

Jack could feel the power rushing through him, and he grinned…although no one could see him do it.   “Let’s get these things!” he shouted, to rally his troops.

Only the weird, spongy white creatures were gone.

Jack hated it when the monsters took the opportunity of the Rangers morphing to get away.  He had no idea why they just couldn’t hang around and wait.  That would have been the polite thing to do.  Besides, he had it on pretty good authority that them morphing was pretty damned impressive.  Jack almost wished he could see it himself.

Well, they’d have to chase them down, then.

Which worked wonderfully well until they suddenly and inexplicably de-morphed.

Jack wondered just what they’d done to have such a crappy time.

 

**********

 

The problem with being able to teleport to your secret superbase – even if it was done in gaudy colours and fireworks – was having to walk there when the teleport was down.

Or take public transportation, which was interesting to say the least.

The team eventually made their way to Roald Dahl Plass, where the Hub was been for time immemorial…or at least as long as Jack could remember, and he’d been a Power Ranger for about four years now.  So, yeah…at least as long as Jack had been around. 

They found the super-secret entrance to the Hub – in the Tourist Information Centre, of all things.  Jack knew that Donna hated the tiny office, and there was always a “Gone to Lunch” sign up on the door, which was locked.

Where Ianto had learned to pick locks from, Jack didn’t know.  What he did know was that it was dead sexy seeing his boyfriend bending forward and fiddling with a hairpin he’d borrowed from Suzie.  Of course, Ianto with his arse in clear view was an awesome sight.  He just couldn’t complain about it.

The interior of the Tourist Office showed Donna’s delicate hand in cleaning: dust was everywhere, and it was obvious that no one had been up there in ages.  Not that Jack cared; he was more concerned why he and his team couldn’t morph any longer.  There were white blubbery things out there that needed to be trashed, and they couldn’t do it! 

He wondered vaguely if the Doctor had forgotten to pay the utility bill.  He wouldn’t put it past the Time Lord, the alien was completely scatterbrained.

But, when they reached the main area of the Hub, Jack realised it wasn’t just an argument with Cardiff Power and Light that had caused the morphing grid to go down.

The place looked as if someone had thrown a party and not invited any of the team.  Only there weren’t any beer bottles lying around nor had the cops been called.

Oh, and the Doctor looked like he’d been hit by a massive can of whup-arse.

“What the hell happened?” Owen was the first to speak, but then he’d always been the one who’d always recovered fast enough to make the obligatory sarcastic comment.

“What happened?” Donna’s voice parroted from somewhere deep in the Hub.  The redhead came into view, and she was obviously about five sorts of pissed off.  “Let me tell you what happened: the Master decided that the Doctor owed him that dance from the Time Lord Graduation ball, and came to collect.  Only the Master can’t dance worth crap, and the Doctor didn’t like having his feet stepped on all the time.”

Jack stared at the Doctor, who was apparently quite comfortable lying on the floor, being unconscious.  “Looks more like he went about ten rounds and got his butt handed to him.”

Donna rolled her eyes.  “Well, duh!  That, too.”

The Time Lord shifted slightly, and his eyes opened.  “Rangers,” he whispered weakly, raising one hand as if to call them over.  “Come to me…”

“Oh please,” Donna sighed.  “You’re such a drama queen.”

The Doctor glared at her, and then turned back to the Rangers, his eyes particularly on Jack.  “Thank Gallifrey you’re safe…”  His eyes fluttered closed once more.

“Get up, you goose,” Donna ordered.  “You’re not hurt that bad.”

“I’m dying…”

Donna coughed, barely hiding the ‘bullshit’ behind her hand.

“We need to get back out there and go after the Master,” Jack said.  It was strange seeing their mentor lying there, weak and pale against the gritty grating of the Hub floor.  All he wanted to do was get the Master for what he’d done.

“You can’t,” the Doctor wheezed dramatically.  “He’s destroyed the morphing grid.  The Zords are gone, too.  The Power Rangers are no more.”

 “Then what are we going to do?” Suzie sniffled.  It was at times like this that Jack felt she’d completely earned the Pink Power Coin by being so girly. 

Real men, of course, didn’t cry.  No, Jack didn’t just wipe a tear from his eye.   And no, it wasn’t because he was upset that he wasn’t a Power Ranger anymore. 

Okay, maybe it was…just a little.

“You have to stop the Master,” the Doctor moaned, clutching his chest rather dramatically.

“Sure,” Owen’s snort very nearly drowned out Donna’s.  “Like to know how that’s supposed to happen without powers.”

“Somewhere, beyond the Silver Devastation, there’s a planet where there’s supposed to be an unimaginable power.”   The Doctor’s voice was breathy, as if he were going to expire on the spot.

“Then we need to get this power,” Jack determined. 

“You’re really buying this act?” Donna sighed.

Despite being close to death, the Doctor glared at her.  “You need to go to Malcassairo,” he whispered, letting out a terrible-sounding rattle.  “You’ll need…to talk to the…Master Warrior of Malcassairo…”

“Another ex, no doubt,” Donna snarked.

 Jack hoped not; he didn’t want to have to deal with another insanity-riddled former lover of the Doctor’s; the ones they’d met already were enough.

But hey, they were the Power Rangers…even without powers.  They had to stop the Master some way.  “So, how do we get to this place, if we don’t have any powers left?”

“Donna can use the last of the morphonic emissions to get you there, only you won’t be able to come back unless you find the power,” the Doctor answered weakly, his eyes fluttering wildly.  “The coordinates are on the mainframe…”

“Oh, all right,” Donna said, throwing up her hands.  “I can’t believe you’re falling for all the melodramatics…”

She went to what was left over of the control console, and gave one of the dials a particularly vicious twist.

As the familiar feeling of being teleported engulfed Jack, he heard Donna say, “A mysterious planet…is that what we’re calling New Zealand these days…?”

 

**********

 

The Master appeared in Rose’s throne room. 

Rose loved her castle.  She especially loved it because it was on the Moon, so she could watch the planet that would, one day, be hers to rule.  Sure, the Moon was airless, which meant going for long walks was out of question, plus Earthlight wasn’t nearly as romantic as moonlight…but, really, one must do what one could with what one had, and the castle was actually quite nice, in a medieval, Steampunk sort of way.

Rose sat on her throne, one leg up over the arm in what she knew would be the picture of insouciance. 

Then she frowned.  Just what did insouciance mean?  And where had she even gotten that word from anyway?

Never mind.  Back to business.

She gave the Master one of her craziest smiles.  “I take it you failed, then?”

The Master winked.  “Nope, sorry to disappoint you, but the Power Rangers are no more.”

Rose really hadn’t thought he could do it, but obviously the Master was as good as his word.  “Good job,” she congratulated, clapping lazily. 

The Master bowed. 

“Although,” she went on, “if you’d succeed, then why did the Power Rangers just teleport to New Zealand?”

That caused the Time Lord to frown.  “That’s impossible.”

Mickey stepped forward.  “The sparkly rainbows were kinda hard to miss.”

“I destroyed the morphing grid and danced the Doctor into unconsciousness!” the Master exclaimed.  “There’s no way those insufferable kids could have teleported anywhere!”  The he paused.  “But why teleport to New Zealand?”

“Maybe they want to take the “Lord of the Rings” tour of filming locations,” Yvonne suggested from her place across the room, where she’d been leaning against the wall and filing her nails.

“Oh, I want to see that!” Lucy enthused, even as she was smoothing down her red dress in a blatant attempt to vamp the Master.   “Viggo Mortensen is such a fox!”

Rose rolled her eyes.  “It doesn’t matter why they’re going to New Zealand,” she snapped.  “What matters is, the Power Rangers are able to teleport there, when they should have been powerless!”

“There’s only one way to find out,” the Master said, “and that’s to follow them.  And I have just the things for that…”

He reached into his pocket, pulling out a handful of what looked like metal marbles.  Rose wasn’t impressed…until he threw the marbles into the air, and they began to expand into hovering metal orbs of destruction.

The Master was grinning like a maniac…a distinctly good look for him, if Rose had to be honest.  “You know what to do,” he addressed the orbs. 

_“Go and find the Rangers,”_ one of the orbs answered, sounding like a little kid who was asking for candy.

“You got it.  Now, go!”

The six orbs flew from the throne room, and toward the Earth.   Good thing they could handle the vacuum of space…

“That’s all well and good,” Rose said, “but you still failed, and the Power Rangers are still out there.  And I don’t like failure.”  She raised her hands, and golden beams of magic flashed toward the Master, striking him firmly in the chest.

Instead of being thrown backward, and then begging for mercy like any decent minion should, the Master simply giggled.  “That tickles!”  Then he got a sly look on his already sly features.  “Now it’s my turn.”

He removed a black tube from the pocket of his expensive suit, aiming it toward Rose.  The tip glowed…

And Mickey put himself between Rose and the device, although it didn’t do a lot of good, since whatever beam had come from it now hit them both.

While Rose appreciated the attempt – any good ex-boyfriend should be protective, at least in her opinion – she was irritated that both of them appeared to have been shrunk.

The worst indignity of them all was that she and Mickey seemed to have been imprisoned inside a “Welcome to Cardiff” snowglobe.

“Oh, this is just lovely,” she snarked. 

She could still see and hear what was going on in her throne room, and watched as the Master approached Lucy and Yvonne.  “Now, you can either serve me, or join those two with the fake snow and the cramped quarters.”

Rose smiled.  Her minions were loyal to her.  She knew she had nothing to worry about.

“That’s easy,” Lucy said, “we’ll join you.  I never really liked those two, anyway.”

“Rose just didn’t know how to conquer anything,” Yvonne added.  “I want to be on the winning side for a change.”

“Smart decision, ladies,” the Master answered, as Rose ranted and raved within hers and Mickey’s prison. 

She’d done nothing but be the best leader she could have been…she’d even let them go off on shopping trips when they should have been taking over the Earth!  She’d been _nice_!

She’d even let the Master free, and this was how he repaid her.  Well, from now on, no more good deeds.  They were highly overrated.   It was going to be all evil, all the time.

But at least Mickey was still loyal to her.  That was something.

Rose wasn’t done, though.  She’d figure out a way to escape if it was the last thing she did.

 

**********

 

The feeling of teleportation passed, and Jack and his team found themselves on a rocky outcrop, a cool breeze blowing and not a cloud in the blue sky. 

Malcassairo was a beautiful planet, Jack had to admit.  Lots of mountains, and trees, and not a person in sight.  It made him wish he could come here with Ianto and just take a vacation away from saving the planet from Rose’s weird monsters every week.

Nah…not really. 

It wasn’t that he didn’t want some alone Ianto-time; it was just that he was a Power Ranger, and that meant he really did have to save the world on a regular basis.  The team would be lost without him to lead them.  Besides, Ianto understood. 

Speaking of Ianto, Jack’s boyfriend was staring around in awe; as was the rest of the team.  Well, they’d never been to another planet before, not in all their times in trying to defeat Rose and her nefarious schemes to conquer Earth.  Of course, they all knew that the Doctor had come from a different planet, but that wasn’t the same at all. 

Jack was just a bit surprised that Malcassairo looked a bit like Earth, really.  Not that that stopped his enjoyment, of course.

“So, now that we’re here,” Owen said, “where do we find this Warrior, then?”

That was a good question, and one that Jack hadn’t wanted to ask, not wanting to look like an idiot. 

“We don’t have much time,” Toshiko added.  “There’s no telling what the Master is up to.”

“Yeah, let’s find this power and then go back and kick his arse,” Rhys growled, cracking his knuckles.

“For the Doctor,” Suzie murmured, still looking like she wanted to cry.  Yes, she really did deserve to be the Pink Ranger, despite her protests.

Jack nodded.  He looked at each of his team, nodding.  “Let’s head out,” he ordered. 

Then he just went in a random direction.  Simply because he didn’t know where to go, didn’t mean he had to act that way.

 

**********

 

Eventually, Jack ended walking beside Ianto, holding hands.  The two had taken a lot of ribbing over the years – especially from Owen – but that still didn’t stop Jack from showing the odd public display of affection.  And Ianto didn’t mind one bit, which was a good thing. 

They were walking along a ridge, leading up toward a snow-capped peak that looked very impressive.  Jack thought the view was incredible, and wasn’t afraid to say so to Ianto.

“I agree,” his boyfriend answered, “but there’s something slightly familiar with this place…I can’t put my finger on it, but I swear I’ve seen this scenery before.”

“We’re on another planet,” Jack pointed out.  “Unless there’s something you’re not telling me…”

Ianto rolled his eyes.  “Yes, Jack; I’m an alien.  I’m undercover in the Rangers just so I can get close to you in order to sabotage your plans.”

“Well, I don’t mind the ‘getting closer’ part.”   Jack loved being with Ianto, and he constantly considered the fact that he’d never have known him if they hadn’t been picked as Rangers.  It was a scary thought.

Ianto squeezed his hand, which was all the response Jack needed.  He quickly yanked his boyfriend behind a convenient rock, and kissed him senseless.  Ianto returned it enthusiastically.

When they broke apart, Ianto pushed his glasses back up onto his nose and asked, “What brought that on?”  He sounded out of breath.

“I haven’t kissed you in hours,” Jack murmured.  “It was way overdue.”

“And is has nothing to do with the life-or-death situation we’re currently in?”

“Well,” Jack hedged, “maybe a little.  Besides, don’t you find alien planets romantic?”

Ianto smirked.  “Only you, Jack.”

Jack was leaning in to kiss him again, when Owen’s voice floated over to them.  “Oi, Harkness!  Quit molesting Ianto and get up here!”

“Duty calls,” Jack sighed, stepping away.

“It usually does,” Ianto agreed.

Together, they headed toward Owen’s shout.  They passed between two upright boulders – which, Jack had to agree with Ianto in that they looked familiar – and joined the rest of the team, who were waiting just on the other side of the trail.  “What’s up?” Jack asked as they approached.

“See?” Rhys exclaimed triumphantly, rather than answering the question. “I’m not crazy!”

“What’s going on?” Ianto inquired, eyes narrowing.

“Turn around and look back the way you came,” Rhys said. 

“O…kay.”  Jack and Ianto both did as Rhys asked, looking back toward the path they’d taken.  Jack’s eyes searched for what Rhys had seen, and he wasn’t getting it.  It was some rocks, a path, some grass…and yet, there was that itching at the back of his mind, telling him he’d seen this before.

Ianto must have seen it first, because he laughed.  “I don’t believe it!”

“Even Ianto recognizes it!” Rhys pointed out, satisfied.

“You’re kidding,” Owen growled.  “You see what Rhys does?”

“Why is this so familiar?” Jack demanded, tired of not being quick enough on the uptake.  But then, being a heroic leader didn’t mean he had to be particularly fast on the draw, so to speak…this was what he had a team for.

“Try to imagine Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen, and four Hobbits walking through that very spot,” Rhys explained, “accompanied by a cinematic upswell of music…”

Jack’s eyes widened.  He glanced at Ianto, who was nodding vigorously.  “Are you saying we’re in New Zealand?”

“But this is supposed to be Malcassairo!” Suzie shouted.  “How the hell did we get to New Zealand?”

“Um, guys,” Toshiko broke into what could have become quite the argument, “but I think we need to discuss that later.”  She pointed upward.

Jack turned where she indicated.  He squinted, making out six round objects that were flying toward them. 

“I would say it’s either the Master after us,” Ianto said, “or some sort of bizarre security device that the government is using to keep people from disturbing the filming areas.”

The spheres were coming closer, and the Rangers dropped into their practiced crouches, ready to face whatever this was after them.  Jack was proud of them once more; even facing danger without their powers, his team was willing to make a stand.

Things got confusing after that.

It was hard to get in close to the spheres, because they could obviously fly out of reach.  But Jack and his friends managed to keep them at bay, and he desperately tried to come up with a plan to escape that didn’t include running away like little girls.  Even de-powered Power Rangers didn’t retreat from battle.

“Batter up!”

It was a female voice, and it was accompanied by a child-like shriek and a hard crack, followed by one of the metal spheres flying across the sky.  A second went with the first, and it only took Jack that long to get the idea.

He rolled under another floating ball, grabbing up a branch as he did so.  He wasn’t much into baseball, but he knew how to swing a bat when he needed to.

His branch contacted the metallic covering of a sphere menacing Ianto, and while the branch snapped under the pressure it also sent the ball of evil flying back in the direction it had come from. 

If nothing else, his team could grasp tactics pretty quickly.  Soon they all had some sort of weapon in their hands, and they were knocking the spheres for six.

Jack laughed; he couldn’t help it.  He and Ianto stood back-to-back, indulging in their inner children as they kept hitting home runs, with the strange spheres as the baseballs.  It felt fantastic to be taking his frustrations out on whatever these things were, because it had been a hell of a last couple of hours. 

And it had started off such a good day, too, what with jumping out of an airplane for the first time and all.

He had no idea how long they beat the balls off with sticks, but eventually the spheres gave up and left.  Jack’s arms were sore, and he dropped the sturdier stick he’d been using on the ground, giving in to the overwhelming urge to hug Ianto.

He was the luckiest boyfriend in the world, or any world, because Ianto hugged back, his laugh breathless in Jack’s ear.

 “Guys, we have company,” Toshiko warned.

Jack and Ianto broke apart.  They did, indeed, have company.

It was a woman, and she was holding a long staff that looked as if it would have made a fantastic bat against those balls.  She had curly blonde hair, and was wearing an ankle-length skirt, white blouse, and a jacket.  She looked completely human, and was smirking at them.

“Please don’t stop on my account,” she said, winking.

Jack leered.  “Don’t worry, we won’t.”

Ianto elbowed him in the ribs.  “Jack…focus.”

“Right.”  Jack put his leader hat back on.  “Thanks for your help.”

“No problem, sweetie,” the woman answered.  “It’s always fun to help out the tourists.”

“We’re not exactly tourists,” Jack said.  “We’re here because of the Doctor –“

The woman sighed.  “Of course you are.  This means you’re the Power Rangers, right?”

“That’s right,” Suzie answered warily. 

“All right, what’s the Doctor done this time?” The woman sounded put-upon.  “Am I going to have to go and save his arse again?”

“You…haven’t happened to have dated him, have you?” Jack asked, suddenly very concerned that they might be dealing with another ex-girlfriend.

“Heavens, no,” the woman denied.   Just as Jack was beginning to feel a bit better, she added, “I don’t start dating him until much later.”

“How can you date him in the future?” Owen asked.

The woman winked.  “Spoilers.”

“We’re here looking for some sort of mythological power,” Toshiko said, getting the conversation back on track.

“I figured as much.  I’m guessing the Doctor hasn’t just spilt tea across the morphing grid again, has he?”

“No,” Jack said, trying hard not to laugh.  He thought he was going to like this person.  “A Time Lord calling himself the Master broke into the Hub and destroyed everything.”

“The Doctor is dying,” Suzie whimpered a little.

“Oh, I sincerely doubt that,” the woman replied.  “Oh, by the way…I’m River Song.  Welcome to New Zealand.”

“Wait!!” Jack exclaimed.  “The Doctor said we were going to another world!”

“I’m sorry about that.  His navigation has always been a bit wonky.”  River shrugged.  “But I can assure you, you’re in the right place.  Come with me, and we’ll talk.”

River turned and headed back down the rise.  Jack turned to look at each member of his team then, because he was in charge, he followed her.  Something told him that he could trust her, if just because she’d never dated the Time Lord…which was a good thing.  He wasn’t so sure of this future dating thing, but at least they didn’t have to deal with that now.

 

**********

 

Rose was bored.

She hated being stuck in a snowglobe.  She was so used to being able to go where she wanted, and now she was trapped in one place and it was freakingly mind numbing.  If she wasn’t already crazy it would have driven her round the twist.

Mickey was moping.  Well, to be fair, so was she, but she was allowed to.  She was Rose Tyler, the greatest witch the Earth had ever seen – forget that frizzy-haired Hermione person, she was just a bookworm with delusions of grandeur – and soon-to-be ruler of the entire planet.  It wasn’t right that some upstart Time Lord had done this to her.  Yes, she was going to find a way out and hex his arse so bad he wouldn’t be able to sit down for millennia!

She did, however, have a front row seat for when those sphere things came back.

“Did you manage to take out my enemies?” the Master practically crooned at them.  It was just a wee bit icky.

_“We always do what the Master commands,”_ the sphere in the front simpered. 

Wait…could a metallic, hovering ball look nervous?

Rose watched eagerly, hoping that whatever these things were, they’d failed.  Yes, it was fantastic to be rid of the Doctor and possibly the Rangers, but she was quickly coming to the conclusion that she’d made a mistake siccing the Master on them.  If she really wanted to rule, then she should have been the one to take her enemies down.  Certainly, it had been years since she’d begun her campaign, and it didn’t seem like she was getting very far, but it wouldn’t be worth anything gaining if she wasn’t willing to fight for it. 

Rose hated second thoughts.  Damn it.

Obviously the Master had picked up on the sphere’s nervousness, because he frowned, narrowing his eyes as he stared.  “Are you sure you were able to complete my orders?” he purred, sounding like an evil cat.

The group of spheres, as one, bobbed up and down and generally acted like children who had been caught out in a lie.

_“There was this woman,”_ one of them squeaked.  _“She came to their rescue!”_

_“She used this terrible weapon on us,”_ another one added, shivering slightly.

The Master said something that Rose couldn’t translate, but it certainly sounded to her as if he were cursing.  She wanted to cackle in glee but managed to control herself.  “So, let me get this straight…you didn’t actually kill any of the Rangers.”

_“Sure we did!”_ the front sphere answered, then backpedaled beautifully, _“Well, if you mean by ‘kill’, that they’re actually dead…then, no.  Sorry, Master.”_

“You are the Toclafane, the bane of the Five Galaxies!” the Master roared.  “And you let six kids and a woman defeat you?”

He clapped his hands, and the spheres shrank back down to their tiny size.  Instead of putting them back in his pocket though, the Master tossed them across the room and into the wall.  Rose cringed; that had to have hurt, even if these so-called Toclafane were just small marbles of metal.

But she couldn’t help but crow at his failure.  She didn’t know what the Rangers were up to, but whatever it was, she really hoped they’d succeed.  She wanted the Master to cower before her. 

And then she could start conquering the planet once more.

 

**********

 

Jack and the Rangers followed River Song down the mountain and across a plain, toward a mound of rock that, once again, looked very familiar indeed.   Perhaps it was the building at the apex of the mound; it took Jack a few minutes to really figure out what he was seeing.

“We’re going to Meduseld?”  Rhys managed to beat him to it, and from the tone of the question it sounded as if he was geeking out big-time.

River laughed.  “The film crew left it intact because the New Zealand government wanted it as a tourist attraction.  They didn’t seem to realise that the very hill itself was a source of power.”

Jack was excited.  “Is this the power that the Doctor told us about?”

“No, afraid not,” River answered.  “That’s somewhere else entirely, but we can get started here.  I’ll explain once we get up to the hall.”

Of course it wouldn’t be that simple.

While seeing something that had been built for the greatest film trilogy of its time was fantastic, Jack was quite put out with the Doctor lying to them about this being another world.  The Time Lord should have just admitted it; after all, most of the team were fans of “The Lord of the Rings” and would have come on this little jaunt just to see the sights.  A new power source was just the icing on the cake.

It was a steep climb, but Jack’s team was in the best shape possible.  Their diets might not have been the best – after all, they hung out at _Sarah Jane’s_ , where hotdogs and juice were two of the major food groups – but all the exercise they got while beating up the bad guys kept them fit.  So it was no problem  for them to scale the side of this mini-mountain, until they were standing in what, in the film, had been the courtyard of the capitol of Rohan…Meduseld.

Yeah, it was pretty damned impressive.  Jack wished he had a camera.

“Come on,” River said, “let’s get something to eat and then we can talk.”

Jack heard the distinctive rumble of at least one stomach in his team, and he could totally relate.  Losing your ability to morph and getting transported to what should have been another planet and instead had been New Zealand was bound to build up a person’s appetite.

‘Food’ turned out to be some sort of power bar, which tasted almost, but not quite entirely like, something that should have been granola.  The team made themselves comfortable outside on the stairs, River mentioning that the hall was just a shell, and that there wasn’t actually anything inside.  That was a disappointment, but Jack knew they had other things they needed to concentrate on.

Trust Ianto to bring up the subject.  “So, just what is this power the Doctor told us to find?”

River leaned back against the step she was on, looking up into the sky.  “It’s said,” she began, “that to anyone who has the power, all things are possible.”  She turned back to look at the team.  “I can only tell you what I know…that this power came from another place, another time.  I know the Doctor was the one who found it and hid it, but that’s about it.  Oh, and I know where it is…it’s out in the forest not far from here.  It’s a bit of a trek to get to it.”

“So we need to go on a hike,” Owen replied.  “Sounds like a blast.”

Jack agreed.  It was about time to get this show on the road.

“It’s getting dark,” River went on.  “You can sleep here tonight and then get on the road tomorrow.”

“Wait a minute,” Ianto interrupted.  “It shouldn’t be night here, not with the time difference between New Zealand and Cardiff.”

River waved her hand. “It’s all timey whimey.  Don’t worry about it.”

“You sound like the Doctor,” Jack accused.  “Are you sure you haven’t dated him?”

 She simply laughed.  Jack didn’t like the sound of it.  

 

**********  

 

To Rose’s disappointment, the Master didn’t remain angry for long.

She folded her arms across her chest and tapped her foot as she watched him from the snowglobe, trying to figure out ways to hex him without being able to break out of her prison.  Mickey wasn’t doing a very good job of distracting her, which really was the biggest reason she’d finally dumped him…well, and the Doctor, but Rose wasn’t interested in the Time Lord anymore, now that she was bent on conquering the world.  She got so much more…satisfaction…in her plots and plans than she ever did being with the Doctor.

No wonder he had exes scattered across the universe.

“I’m sick of being a shopgirl,” Yvonne whined, as she reappeared back in the castle. 

“I’m going to strangle her when I get out of this thing,” Rose muttered, getting the sudden urge to stand up for all shopgirls everywhere.

“I told you it was necessary,” the Master crooned, doing a little jig in time with his words.  “You and Lucy have done a wonderful job!  I’m so proud of you both.”

Yvonne preened under the attention, and then smirked at him.  “Your plan seems to be advancing quite well.”

“It is!  And it’s time to put the next part of that plan into effect.” 

Rose watched as the Master pulled a device from his pocket – those must be fantastic pockets, and she really wanted to ask him who his tailor was…no, she was too busy being mad at him.  “Now that you have convinced nearly every child in Cardiff to buy one of our phones, I can use this to send a signal through my Archangel Network and take over every adult mind in Cardiff, to do with as I will!  A race of slaves, doing my bidding!”

All right, Rose was just a wee bit impressed with this plan.  She’d always focused on the kids, and never the adults, because parents were completely irritating…her own mother accepted, of course.

“You never did say what your bidding was,” Lucy asked, joining her fellow minion, smoothing down her low-cut red blouse in order to show her cleavage to its best advantage.

Rose pressed her nose against the snowglobe’s glass.  Yes, he never did say…which just wasn’t fair, that he wasn’t ranting and gloating like most other villains.

The Master gave his default grin…that was, the one that made him look like the Joker on amphetamines.  “All you had to do was ask!  I do so love to hear myself talk.  It’s a weakness, I know…but all the Time Lords are pedantic like that.”

He had a point; Rose had lost count of the times that the Doctor had bored her with one of his lectures.

“So?”  Yvonne asked impatiently.  “What is your plan?”

“Oh, sorry.”  The Master shook himself somewhat violently, and Rose wondered why he hadn’t given himself whiplash. “I was just thinking about this one scheme I’d come up with involving a satellite dish and a hand-held tape recorder…anyway, what I plan on doing is using the adults of Cardiff to resurrect the greatest Cyberman of them all: the Cyberking!”

Well, Rose didn’t think much of _that_ plan.  If only for the fact that the Cyberking had been buried for a very good reason…the creature had the conversational ability of a shrub.  No, wait…that was giving shrubs a bad name.  No one could stand to be around the Cyberking, because it only took about five minutes in its company and a person was begging to be converted in order to get away from the sheer boredom.

Lucy pouted.  “I went to a party once where the Cyberking was invited, and it cleared out the guests faster than a rumour of the Legionnaire’s Disease in a Holiday Inn.”

“Ah, but I don’t intend on using him as a sleep aid,” the Master assured her.  “In fact, after I’m done no one will be sleeping around him again!”  He laughed, the high-pitched chuckling echoing off the stone walls.

Rose flinched, sticking a finger in her ear to try to stop her ear drum from ringing. 

“That man is nuttier than you,” Mickey muttered, from where he’d slumped against the post of the decorative “Welcome to Cardiff” sign.

Rose smacked him across the back of the head.  No one was nuttier than she was.

 

**********

 

Jack woke up the next morning feeling well rested.

It didn’t hurt that Ianto was sleeping beside him.  That was the best way to wake up. 

“Everyone, wakey wakey!”  River’s overly cheerful voice made Jack jerk just enough to completely dislodge Ianto from his side.  _Damnit_.

“It’s time to find the secret power and go and save the world,” River went on. 

“I hope you’re only this happy after about a gallon of coffee,” Owen groused as the team got to their feet.

“No coffee,” the warrior woman answered.  She stood just off to the side, her hands on her hips.  She was wearing a denim jacket and skirt, with boots that wouldn’t have looked out of place on Annie Oakley.  “Once you get on the trail you’ll wake up fast enough.”

The mumbling that came from Owen and Suzie could only be interpreted as cursing.  But then, Jack knew those two weren’t at all morning people so he wasn’t surprised that they were angry about the lack of coffee.

Ianto didn’t look best pleased, either.  Of course, that was because Ianto was a coffee-holic.

Jack had to admit, he missed Ianto’s coffee.

“The sooner we get this done,” he said to his team, “the sooner we can get back to being caffeinated.”

That statement caused a round of agreement that had Jack grinning.   His friends could really pull together when it was important.

“Then all you have to do is find the temple,” River said, motioning toward the forest that had, somehow, mysteriously appeared overnight.  “Once you do that, you must defeat the guardians and then the power is yours.”

That made it better; they could take their decaffeinated frustration out on whatever these guardians were.

“You’re not coming with us?” Toshiko asked River.

“I can’t go any farther,” the woman answered.  “Besides, this is your quest.”  She winked.  “I’m certain I’ll see you all later.  Spoilers!”

Jack looked out over the strange forest.  He thought he could see a strange building off in the distance, and for once it didn’t look like anything that Peter Jackson had imagined.  “We should head out.  We don’t know what the Master is up to, and he could have conquered Cardiff by now.”

Owen snorted.  “If Cardiff fell, then the rest of the world would have folded in no time.”

That was true.  Cardiff was the gateway to any sort of invasion, which was why the Rangers were based there.

“Then let’s get started.”  Taking Ianto’s hand, Jack began the trek down the hill toward their destination.

“Before we go,” Rhys spoke up, stopping them all in their tracks, “do you happen to have any of those granola bars left?”

 

**********  

 

Sleeping inside a snowglobe wasn’t Rose’s idea of fun, although Mickey did make a fairly decent pillow.

She would need to reward him for that, once they were free.

However, Rose wasn’t ready to get up yet; it had only been the whispered argument that had been going on outside the snowglobe that has disturbed her rest.  What made it worse was the fact that she hadn’t been given one of her favorite nighties and her beauty mask, so she’d had to sleep in her clothes and she was convinced her eyes were puffy and vaguely raccoonish.

“-and when everyone falls asleep,” Yvonne was saying, hissing her words like she was some sort of snake minion, “we’ll see how far the plan goes.”

 “You should have faith in the Master’s plan,” Lucy rebutted. 

“But it’s the Cyberking!  The most boring being in the Universe!  We’ll be the laughing stock of the villain community!”

Lucy flicked her hair back over her shoulder, and then sank down onto what had been Rose’s throne…and would be again, so she’d best not get used to sitting on it.  “And we aren’t already?  There was a reason why Rose wasn’t invited to the last Villainy Convention!”

Now, this was news.  Why hadn’t Rose heard about this before?  She was the greatest witch the universe had ever seen!  How dare they not invite her to the annual meeting!

She bet that Hermione person had got an invitation!  Although, last time Rose checked the kid wasn’t a villain, but that was beside the point!

Rose unleashed her power at the walls of the snowglobe, but all she managed to do was make the place glow prettily and to draw attention to herself.  The snowglobe was picked up – causing a fairly major groundquake that had her clutching the “Welcome to Cardiff” sign for dear life. 

A pair of dark eyes were looking down on her, and Rose let go of the sign long enough to shake her fist…and lose her balance.  “Let me out of here!” she screeched angrily, feeling the smoke rise from her ears. 

Laughter answered her demand.  “Oh, honey,” Yvonne said, her voice echoing loudly, “the Master might be a bit of a prat, but we can’t do that.”

“C’mon,” Rose cajoled, pretending that she wasn’t whining, “let me out, we can kick the Master’s arse, and then go shopping!”

Yvonne and Lucy glanced at each other, and Rose thought she had them.  After all, who didn’t love shopping?  There’d been a special going on in one of the shoe stores at Cardiff Mall…

“You’re gonna let a man tell you what to do?” Rose when on.  “We could be out buying new Manolos and matching handbags!  And what about pedicures?  Manicures?  There’s so much we could be doing before coming back and taking over the world!  What man could ever understand the need to shop?  Shopping is a female imperative!”

Yvonne looked like she was seriously considering it, but Lucy butted in.  “See, that was the problem before…we’d go shopping and then taking over the world would come in second place.  At least the Master is offering us the planet first…then we can go to any store we want, and they’d happily let us take anything!  We’d never have to pay for anything again.”

Damnit.  Rose thought she’d had them.  Before, they’d all been for shopping first, so obviously the Master had put the idea of shopping second in their heads.  Damn him, corrupting a woman’s shopping imperative like that!

But even she had to admit that it sounded like a good idea…

No, stop it. 

The snowglobe was put down – not too carefully – and once again Rose was left to her own devices…and with Mickey, who was nice to sleep on but lacked something as a conversationalist. 

But her mind threw up a fact that no one seemed to be considering.

The Power Rangers were still out there.

Certainly, they’d been stripped of their power.  But there had to have been a reason for them teleporting to New Zealand, and the Master didn’t seem to much care.  Yes, he’d sent those Toclafane things after them, but after they’d come back defeated he hadn’t done anything else.

Rose smiled, and she knew it was one of her crazier expressions, judging from the look on Mickey’s face.  She’d learned the hard way that it was never a good idea to disregard the Power Rangers, even if you had the upper hand. 

To herself, Rose actually began cheering the Rangers on.  After all, she wasn’t above rooting for an enemy if it got rid of someone she wanted to crush. 

It made her job a lot easier, that was all.

 

**********

 

It was a good thing that the team finally found this mysterious temple thing, because Jack had been on the cusp of sheer boredom.

A bored Jack Harkness was a very dangerous Jack Harkness.

And that was even with Ianto to distract him.

Jack tried not to think about just what sort of trouble he’d get up to if he’d never met his boyfriend.

The forest they’d trekked through had been strange, which actually made Jack’s boredom worse.  The place had actually looked landscaped, as if someone had come and cleared all the brush and grass and made certain it was a smooth stroll under well-trimmed trees.  There hadn’t even been any animals to speak of, except for the odd squirrel; Jack had been so bored that he’d actually considered chasing a few, but Ianto had managed to stop him without Jack having to say anything. 

His favourite bit had been when Ianto had dragged him behind a nicely sculpted tree and had attempted to snog his face off.  That had been fun until Owen had come back to look for them.  Then it had been fun to see the look on his face when he’d seen just what Jack and Ianto had been up to.

So, to say that Jack was glad to see the temple was only speaking the God’s honest truth.

The place was overgrown, directly opposite of the forest around them.  There were stones and vines all over the place, and Jack’s hands itched to grab a vine and swing across the cluttered clearing, doing his best Tarzan imitation. 

He wondered if Ianto would mind being his Jane…

Then his mind threw up the image of his boyfriend in one of those old-fashioned safari outfits complete with hat and it was all Jack could do not to drool all over himself.

He really needed to find out if Ianto would be adverse to a little role-play.

“Back on topic, Jack,” Ianto’s calm voice broke into the jungle fantasy that Jack was conjuring up.  “We can discuss it later.”

He looked at his boyfriend in surprise.   “How do you what I was thinking?”

Ianto smirked.  “I know everything.”

Okay, Jack couldn’t argue with that.

“So,” Rhys mused, “this is a mysterious temple.”

“Doesn’t look like much,” Suzie added.

“There are some carvings on the front of the building,” Toshiko pointed out.  “Maybe we should check those out?  They might tell us more.”

Jack squinted slightly, barely making out the carvings that she’d seen.  They were obscured by overgrowth, but he was willing to bet they’d be able to tell them something.  “Keep alert,” he cautioned.  “We don’t know what’s around here.”

“Jack’s right,” Ianto said.  “There could be any sort of traps to protect the temple.”

He grinned at his boyfriend, and then turned back toward the temple.  The other Rangers formed up on him, and he started forward, every sense alert looking for trouble.

It didn’t take them long to find it.

There was a strange, grinding sound, and what looked like a not very well disguised manhole cover in the ground lifted, and six fearsome creatures emerged.  They had strangely shaped heads, beady little eyes, and mouths full of razor-sharp teeth.  Each wore a baggy boiler suit in light blue, which would have looked comical if it weren’t for the claws that were swiping the air as they charged.

The Rangers broke up into teams without Jack having to tell them to. 

It was arse-kicking time.

Jack could work his boredom out on these land-shark creatures.  Nice of them to volunteer to help him out like that.

He could feel Ianto at his back, just where Jack wanted him to be.  They made a great team, and Jack knew they would even if they weren’t dating.   He grinned as they worked together to take on their opponents, letting his mind set into battle mode easily.

But he couldn’t help thinking that having his powers back would make this entire fight go faster.

Then he snorted, because he’d just been bored, and now he was hoping the fight would be over.  That was just ridiculous.

The battle was finished soon, though, with six butt-ugly creatures lying in the dirt, unconscious, and the way to the temple unguarded.

Jack wrapped his arm around his boyfriend’s waist as they rejoined the rest of the team.  He bumped fists with the others, laughing as the adrenaline rush flowed through him.  Yeah, that was exactly what he’d needed: a knock-down, drag-out fight. 

“What the hell were those?” Owen asked, kicking one of them with his foot.

“Who cares?” Suzie complained.  “They weren’t much of a challenge, even without powers.”

“Speaking of powers,” Jack said, “let’s get ours and go home.”

“I don’t think we have long to wait,” Ianto put in, pushing up his glasses.

Jack gave in to his glasses kink – well, maybe it was more of a Ianto kink – before turning toward the temple.  He raised an eyebrow.  “That’s kinda stating the obvious, isn’t it?”

“It’s only obvious if you’re looking at it,” his boyfriend replied.  “Which no one was.”

The carvings on the temple were glowing.

As one, the Rangers stepped forward.  Jack could feel a prickling against his skin, and he couldn’t help the shit-eating grin that spread across his face. 

They were the Power Rangers.  They were just that good.

Six bolts of golden energy blasted out of the temple, one each toward a single Ranger.  Jack got a glimpse of something that looked almost like a really big dog before the energy struck him in the chest.

It tickled.

He heard someone giggle, and he thought it might have been him but he’d deny it forever, because the leader of the Power Rangers didn’t do that sort of thing. 

Jack could feel the power, could feel himself morphing without even taking the usual position, which was a shame because they’d all practiced it so religiously.  Well, he had…Ianto had just seemed to _get_ it, which was another reason Jack was head over heels for his boyfriend.  Owen had been the one needing the most practice, and it had been hilarious to watch him try.

And then it was over.

Jack took off his helmet, glancing over at the other Rangers.  They’d all morphed into their familiar armour, except for the medallions on their chests.  Jack craned his neck to check out his own medallion, and although he was seeing it upside down he could tell that it wasn’t a dog…it was a wolf.

How cool was that?

He turned to Ianto, who had also removed his helmet.  Jack’s mouth went dry at seeing him in all that red, but then he touched the golden metallic disc on his boyfriend’s chest piece.  “It’s a hawk.”

Ianto’s smile went a little crooked when he made out Jack’s medallion.  “You know this now makes us the Power Ranger equivalent of the couple in “Ladyhawke”, right?”

“It’s always been one of my favourite movies.”

Ianto snorted.  “Just don’t even think I’m the woman in this relationship.”

“I never would!” Then Jack leered.  “Although I’d wear a dress for you.”

“Some fetishes should be kept to yourself.”  Despite the sharpness of the words, Ianto’s expression was undeniably fond.

Jack laughed, and then headed over where the rest of his team had gathered in order to compare their own medallions.  “I have a wolf,” he proclaimed.  “And Ianto is a hawk.”

“I’m an ape,” Rhys said, rolling his eyes.  “Guess this means that any time Andy called me a big ape, he was right.”

“And I’m a bear,” Toshiko said, looking slightly confused.  “I’m not sure why.”

“Because you’re strong and you’ll always defend your friends,” Ianto answered.

She looked mollified by his words.

“Bloody hell,” Owen swore, “I’m a fucking frog!”

Jack tried to keep from laughing, but couldn’t completely, and he gave a rather undignified snort.  “Guess that means all those girls you’ve tried to pull were right when they said you were a slimy bastard?”

“Yeah, laugh it up, Harkness.  I could make a comment about you being a wolf.”

“Wolves mate for life,” Ianto pointed out, a soft, besotted-looking smile on his face.

Jack pulled him close, although their armour didn’t allow for much groping.  “And you’re it, Ianto Jones.”

Owen made a gagging noise, while Toshiko squee’d.  But then, she was such a fangirl.

 That left Suzie, and Jack couldn’t help but notice the outraged expression on her face.  “What is it?” he asked.

Her mouth moved, as if she couldn’t get the words out.  Finally, with a horrified squawk, she managed to say, “I’m a flamingo!”

Judging from the rest of the team, they were like Jack and found this completely hilarious. 

“Maybe it’s a crane,” Ianto offered, “and not a flamingo.”

“No, it’s a flamingo!” Suzie practically screeched.  “Why does the power always pick on me?”

“Cause you’re such a wonderful target?” Owen snarked.  “Besides, it’s better than a pink T-Rex.”

“And someone had to have the Pink Power,” Rhys pointed out, somewhat logically.

Suzie’s lower lip wibbled.

“C’mon team,” Jack stepped in, “we need to get back to Cardiff and stop the Master.  So, are you all with me?”

He held his hand out, palm down.  Ianto was the first to rest his hand on Jack’s, followed by the rest of the Rangers…although Suzie was last, most likely still feeling horribly put upon. 

“Power Rangers, go!” they chanted together, their hands flying apart.

They assumed their usual positions, hands on the morphers on their belts, and teleported back to their city.

Yes, it was great to be a Power Ranger.  Again.

 

**********

 

Rose was lucky in a way, that the snowglobe was set in a place where she could observe what was going on down on Earth through one of the large viewscreens she usually watched her soaps on.

She really couldn’t believe that the Master had actually taken over all the adults in Cardiff with whatever his Archangel Network was, just to unbury the Cyberking. 

What a waste of time.

Yvonne and Lucy had been right about the Cyberking…he was the most boring monster ever created.  Rose didn’t have any clue as to why the Master would want him; he’d been buried for a reason.  Sure, that reason was because he’d put an entire invasion force of Slitheen to sleep with his endless chanting of “Delete!” because he couldn’t even gloat like a decent villain. 

So, just what was the Master planning?

If she craned her neck, she could see the construction site where the Cardiff parents were working hard to excavate the Cyberking.  It looked as if the Master was getting a lot of joy ordering people around, and Rose felt just a small jab of jealousy over it.  Well, one day she’d be the one doing the ordering.  Then she’d have her fun.

She didn’t pay Mickey any attention, until her ex-boyfriend came to stand beside her.  “Look on the bright side,” he said, “the Cyberking will probably put him to sleep and it’ll all be over.”

Rose snorted.  “He knows the Cyberking’s reputation.  I’m sure he has earplugs handy just for the awakening.”

Which seemed to be happening at that moment.

The giant robot’s eyes began glowing red, and enormous arms began pushing the metal body out of the soil.  Whatever the Master was using to control the humans, it was working really well because they didn’t panic or anything.

The Master was doing some funky dance moves, while shoving something into his ears…yes, there went the earplugs.  Damn it, Rose couldn’t even count on the Time Lord being bored to death.

At that moment, something out of the castle window caught Rose’s eye.

It was a rainbow streamer arching over the curve of the Earth, sparkles and glitter following in its wake.

Rose laughed.

The Power Rangers were back.

And it looked like she’d get a ringside seat for the beat down.

Oh, she couldn’t wait.

 

**********

 

The Power Rangers landed on the Plass, the inevitable colours and tiny fireworks fading out around them. 

“Well,” Owen said, “you don’t see that every day.”

He pointed, and Jack followed his finger to where it was pointing at a rather large robot with glowing red eyes.  It was busily stomping on Cardiff.

Jack was furious.  No one stomped on his town!

“Time to call our new Zords,” he said, then suited action to words.

Oh, the Zords were really cool.  And the others agreed with him, if the comments over their comms were any indication, although Owen was having some problem finding the CD player in his Frog Zord.

Jack found himself in the cockpit of an awesome blue wolf, his hands stroking the controls of the immense machine.  He watched as Ianto and Suzie took off in theirs, flying over the city and toward the huge robot.  

It seemed to notice the Hawk and Flamingo Zords flying toward it, because it raised both arms.  A vibrant red laser shot out of a cannon on its left arm, and Jack watched, heart in mouth, as the Hawk Zord dodged out of the way.  Ianto returned fire, his own laser striking the silver skin of the robot and yet not doing too much damage.

A missile erupted from a launcher on the right arm, and the Flamingo Zord juked hard to the left and away, circling back to the rest of the Zords on the ground.

“Let’s go to Mega-Zord,” Jack ordered, getting five confirmations in return. 

He reached for his Zord’s controls.  Even though he’d never piloted this particular Zord before, it was some part of a Ranger’s power that he could instinctively know just what to do with all the high-tech gadgets within.  If it were any other sort of technology, he’d go running to Ianto for help.  It wasn’t that he was an idiot where electronics were concerned…no, it was just dead sexy to have Ianto bending over while trying to figure out why the DVR wasn’t plugged in.

Jack found the correct control, and the Wolf Zord began changing its shape.  He loved this part of being a Ranger, and had endless videos of the Mega-Zord forming that he’d gotten online or from the telly.  Not this particular Zord, of course. 

Damnit, he was going to miss his Velociraptor Zord.  That thing was _wicked_.

Jack frowned.  Had he just thought the word ‘wicked’?  If Ianto ever found out, he’d never hear the end of the teasing.

It took no time at all for the Zords to come together.  The Wolf Zord seemed to have formed the left arm of the Mega-Zord, and Jack let his chair move him up into the combined cockpit, where he found himself seated between Ianto and Rhys.   The other three were on a lower level, already at their controls.

“Where’s the stereo in this thing?” he heard Owen mutter, nearly echoing the words he’d said when he’d first gotten into his Frog Zord.  The Green Ranger did like to have a bit of battle music to listen to as they kicked monster arse.

“I’ll install one later,” Toshiko promised, as she cracked her knuckles before stroking her console. 

Sometimes Jack wondered about her, but in a good way.

“Let’s get this thing out of our town,” Jack went into leader/motivational speaker mode.

The Rangers all chimed in a perfectly timed “Right!”

The robot appeared to notice their approach, because it turned from busily shooting up a local bank to stomp toward the Mega-Zord.  “Delete!” it exclaimed in a strange, atonal voice that had Jack wondering if a nap would be a really good idea.

He shook his head.  Nope, not during monster kicking time.

There was a sudden, vicious trade of blows, and the Mega-Zord rocked under the assault.  Jack was glad he was wearing his seatbelt as the cockpit slammed back and forth in a crazy parody of what Rhys liked to call ‘Star Trek’ special effects. 

But they hadn’t left the silver robot untouched.

It was reeling backward, metallic knees catching on the edge of a building and sending the monster onto its back.  A couple of well-placed shots had the thing down for the count, and the Rangers shouted and generally acted out their victory in fist pumps and hugs.

“That was too easy,” Jack said, hating to break into the celebration but he couldn’t escape the feeling that the Master would have done something a lot more spectacular in order to stop them.

_“You think you’ve won, Rangers,”_ came the hated voice of their enemy over their comms, _“but I’m not done yet!  I don’t know how you got your powers back, but I’ll strip them from your cold, dead corpses!”_

“That’s not half melodramatic,” Owen commented. 

“I hate it when the bad guys hack our comms,” Toshiko muttered, her hands racing over her controls.

Jack watched out of the cockpit window, his Ranger leader senses tingling.  He could see the robot, lying amid the rubble of the building it had fallen onto, not moving.

Then its hand twitched.

“It’s coming back!” he shouted, bringing his team’s attention back to their foe.

_“You may have taken down the Cyberking easily,”_ the Master crowed, sounding completely unhinged, _“but not with me at the controls!”_

The robot – the Cyberking – got to its feet, its red eyes glowing even stronger than before.

The Rangers began firing everything that had at the Cyberking, but this time it just seemed to shrug off the attack.  It raised its arms, letting off two blasts that had the Mega-Zord slamming back into the nearest building. 

“There’s an organic signature inside the machine,” Toshiko reported.  “It wasn’t there before!”

“He must have merged himself with it,” Ianto said.  Jack thought he was stating the obvious but didn’t point it out.  He actually wanted to spend time with his boyfriend after this was over, and making disparaging comments would be the quick way to end up alone for the night.

“So, what’s that going to actually do?” Rhys asked.

“Time Lords are extremely powerful,” Toshiko answered, “and extremely intelligent.  Who knows what he might have done to augment the Cyberking’s power?”

They all clutched onto their consoles as the gigantic robot kicked the Mega-Zord while it was down.   Jack was infuriated.  How dare the Master do that?  It was unsporting and not at all chivalrous!

“We need to get him away from the city,” he ordered.  “We need room to maneuver without taking down Cardiff with us.”

“We can lead the Master out into space,” Ianto suggested. 

“Let’s do it!”

On Jack’s command, the Rangers got their Mega-Zord to its feet, namely by pushing the Cyberking out of the way by head-butting the robot in what would have been its stomach.  It gave them the chance to launch upward, and Jack was confident that the Master would follow.

“He’s on our tail,” Suzie reported, “and closing.”

“More speed,” Jack snapped.

“We’re up to full speed now,” Ianto exclaimed.

“I’m rerouting everything to the thrusters.”  Toshiko’s hands were all over her controls, fingers moving so fast Jack wondered if he could ask her to type up his end-of-term papers for him.

Something hit them in the back of the Zord, and the control room lurched.  “He’s firing at us,” Suzie said, sounding almost too gleeful.

“Evasive maneuvers,” Jack ordered.

“Yeah, figured,” Owen groused, putting the Mega-Zord through its paces.

They couldn’t run for long.  All too soon the Cyberking had caught up, and would have grabbed onto the back of the Mega-Zord if Jack hadn’t had them turn and face their enemy.  After all, it was only cowards who ran, and they’d wanted to get some space to fight anyway.  Saving innocent lives would always come first for a Power Ranger.

Well, that and laughing at everyone who didn’t seem to realise that Jack and his friends were, in fact, the Power Rangers themselves.

The impact jarred them all.  The Cyberking wrapped the Mega-Zord into a hug, almost as if it were greeting an old friend. 

_“I’m going to tear your Mega-Zord apart, limb from limb,”_ the Master ranted into their comms.  _“Then I’m going to stomp all over the pieces until there’s nothing left, and then I’m going to take_ that _and burn it all up!”_

Despite the moaning and groaning of metal around them, Jack couldn’t help but comment, “He’s more than just a little bit insane, isn’t he?”

“We need to get him off us,” Toshiko said.  “The stresses are tearing us apart!”

“I have an idea.”  Ianto was smirking when he said that.

He was dead sexy when he was saving the day.

“Comet Myfanwy isn’t that far away,” Ianto went on.  “If we can get the Cyberking in its path –“

“Then we can use the comet’s momentum to do some damage,” Toshiko finished.  “That’s brilliant, Ianto.”

“But isn’t a comet just a mass of gas and rock?” Rhys asked.  “How is that going to hurt that thing?”

The smirk had converted into a sly grin.  “It’s gas…it’ll explode under the right circumstances.”

Jack was grinning, and from the expressions on the other’s faces it must have been somewhat manic.  “That really is brilliant!”

Ianto blushed a little under the praise.  “If this works, I’ll expect some sort of reward.”

“It’ll work.”  Jack was totally confident that his boyfriend’s idea would be the answer.  “We just need to get the Master to let us go.”

“Leave that to me,” Suzie said slyly.  She reached behind her, where there was a large red button under glass just over her shoulder.  She slammed her fist into the glass, pushing the button.

There was another lurch, but this time they were floating free. 

“Did you just knee the Cyberking in the goolies?” Rhys asked, his voice awed.

“You go, girl!” Toshiko high-fived Suzie.

Jack couldn’t help but wince, telling himself that it might not be such a good idea to tease Suzie about being the Pink Ranger anymore.

“Comet Myfanwy is ahead,” Owen said, his hands confident on the controls. 

“Weapons ready?” Jack asked.

“Ready and waiting,” Rhys answered. 

Jack watched as the comet got closer.  It was quite breathtaking, he had to admit, and he felt a bit bad for giving Ianto grief about wanting to comet-watch instead of spending time with him. 

Of course, if the comet exploded, then Ianto’s Sunday night would be free…

Yeah, getting the Master to slam into it as it was blowing up was a really good idea.

Which, in the end, was exactly what they did. 

 

**********

 

Rose felt the power holding them in the snowglobe fail, and suddenly she and Mickey were back to their normal sizes.  She ran to the balcony of her castle and got there just in time to see the massive explosion fading out, and what had to be a new Mega-Zord flying back toward Earth.

Well, it looked like no one would have to worry about the Cyberking boring people to death anymore.

“I can’t believe he actually let himself be slammed into that comet,” Yvonne’s voice echoed up from the hallway before the throne room. 

“And it seemed like he was winning,” Lucy whined.

Rose grinned.  She ran across to the throne, settling herself into it comfortably.  Okay, it wasn’t all that comfortable, but it was her throne and she’d missed it.

The door swung open as Yvonne was saying, “This means there’s a power vacuum…I think I’ll promote myself to Queen –“

“Don’t you think you should be asking the current Queen about that?” Rose purred, putting just enough insanity into her voice to get across just how monumentally bad an idea it would be to cross her.

The looks on Yvonne’s and Lucy’s faces were priceless.

Rose was going to have a blast making them pay for betraying her.  First, she’d cancel all the credit cards…

 

**********

 

The Rangers teleported into the Hub, the sheet happiness in their victory over the Master put aside out of worry for the Doctor. 

The place was still a disaster, but someone had obviously been cleaning things…if by cleaning it meant things had just been shifted around and out of the way.

Donna was standing by the wreck of the main console, and she was staring at them as if she couldn’t believe they were there.  Then she grinned.  “I see you managed to get that power then.”

Jack winked at her.  “Was there any doubt?”

“Do I have to admit that?”

“Is the Doctor all right?” Suzie interrupted what Jack had meant to say.  It would have been good, too.

Donna rolled her eyes.  “There wasn’t anything wrong with him that a foot spa and dance lessons wouldn’t cure.  He’s buggered off to the nearest tea shop for a cuppa.  Honestly, I swear he lives on the stuff.”

Jack was glad that the Time Lord was all right, but he fully intended on having words with him about the whole New Zealand thing.  He could have just said so, and spared them the trouble. 

Visiting the ‘Lord of the Rings’ sets had been cool, but he was upset that he’d missed Hobbiton.

“Why don’t you all take the day off?” Donna suggested.  “I understand there’s gonna be some sort of big celebration down on the Quay.  It was a real mess while you guys were gone, and of course you’re getting all the credit for fixing it…”

“We did defeat the Master, after all,” Jack pointed out.

“Yeah you did.  Now, get outta here before the Doctor comes back and puts you all to work rebuilding.  It’ll be bad enough he’ll want me to help when it was his own inability to dance that made this mess in the first place.”  She made shooing motions with her hands.   “Go and enjoy the party.  I’ve got things under control.”

That sounded like excellent advice. 

 

**********

 

The team had changed clothes and had met on the patio of _Sarah Jane’s_.  Jack was famished, and the pile of hot dogs and chips on the table they’d claimed was considerably smaller than it had been when they’d first ordered. 

The place was packed, as was the Plass and the Quay.  Everyone was out celebrating the death of the Master, and Jack was proud of himself and his team for making that happen.  One more bad guy gone for good.  It was just a good thing that Rose hadn’t shown her face during what had occurred.

That made Jack wonder just where that witch was…

Ianto sat next to him, leaning against his shoulder while finishing up his order of chips.  He was relaxed, and Jack put his arm around him, holding him close.  The other members of his team were also eating, chatting with each other and sharing tall tales that Jack knew had never happened but were still fun to hear. 

Owen was just bullshitting them about the time they’d gone up against the Blastosaur and how he’d saved the day – it has actually been Suzie, but it was hilarious to see how he changed events around, and Suzie didn’t mind – when he was rather rudely interrupted by Gwen and Andy, who approached their table, Gwen shouting at Rhys for ignoring all her texts.

“I even got a new phone,” she complained, “but the bloody thing stopped working after my folks used it and became zombies or something!  It was horrible!  They completely ignored me and decided that it would be a really good idea to dig up some sort of weird robot that the Power Rangers eventually defeated.  You have no idea what I went through!”

Jack hid his laughter behind his hand as Rhys pulled his distraught girlfriend into his lap.  They’d managed to get most of the details of what had happened while they’d been in New Zealand, so Gwen’s tirade wasn’t news to them.  The first thing they’d done was check on their own parents, who seemed to have escaped what had obviously been mind control on the Master’s part.

But then, their parents were _smart_.

“I’m here now, luv,” Rhys soothed her, ignoring the chuckles around the table.  “Sorry about that, but I had to help out with the emergency services and my mobile died.”

Which was a lie.  Jack knew for a fact that Rhys had found at least twenty-six texts on his phone once he’d gotten home.  He’d deleted them all after he’d reached that number.

“Come on,” he cajoled her up, “let’s go get a good seat for the fireworks.”

Gwen looked happy about that.  “Maybe the Power Rangers will show up.  I still want to know who they are…”  Her voice faded out as they left the patio.

Jack watched them go.  He really did wonder what Rhys saw in her, but it really was none of his business.

“So,” Andy began, “you guys were off helping with emergency services, too?”

“We were,” Jack answered.  “It was a bad time for Cardiff, what with that robot stomping around.”

“Then you weren’t actually saving Cardiff then?”

Jack wondered what he was inferring.  There was an expression on Andy’s face that he couldn’t read.  “Well, in our own way, of course.”

“Yeah, I’m sure.”  Andy sat down in the chair that Rhys had vacated.  “So it’s just a coincidence that you lot were gone when the Power Rangers were out there saving the city?”

Jack laughed as he suddenly got it.  “How did you find out?”

Andy shrugged.  “I’m not blind.  You guys vanish when there’s a monster on the rampage.  There are six of you, and six Power Rangers.  And you all wear the same colours as the Rangers, even though Suzie bitches about wearing pink.”  He grimaced.  “I just don’t get why others don’t see it.”

“So why do you hang around Gwen?” Owen demanded.  “She’s always trying to find out who the Power Rangers are.  You could just tell her.”

“No way!  I’m having too much fun watching her make a fool out of herself.  Besides, someone has to keep her out of trouble.”

“You’re a good guy, Andy,” Toshiko said.

“Nah, not really.”  But he was blushing at the compliment.  “If I was really a good guy, I’d try to convince her to give up.  Although, this is Gwen Cooper we’re talking about…”

Jack leaned back into his chair once more, settling his arm around Ianto.  “Welcome to the very small circle of those who are in the know.  And it really is a very small circle.”

“We’re gonna miss the fireworks if we stay here much longer,” Suzie said, standing up. 

She was right.  The team all got to their feet, Ianto’s hand in Jack’s, and they made their way toward the Quay.  It was fairly easy to find Rhys in the crowd; he was about the only person in the crush wearing black, and stood out like a beacon.  It didn’t hurt that he had the over-excitable Gwen on his arm.

Darkness settled around them.  Jack smiled, his arm around Ianto’s shoulders and his team around him.

There was really nowhere else he’d rather be.

Then the fireworks started, and he whooped along with the rest of the crowd when the burning “Thank You Power Rangers” sign was lit.

It really was fantastic to be a Power Ranger.

 

 


End file.
